The Wolf Man

Universal Studios has released the Lon Chaney Jr. movie "The Wolf Man" to DVD as part of the Classic Monsters line of DVD. Lets take a step back and now look at this DVD and see if Universal has kept up the honorable work they have made a standard on these classics.

By the time that "The Wolf Man" came out, Universal had already made the name for themselves in the world of Horror. They had made numerous classics such as "Frankenstein", "Dracula", "The Mummy" and numerous others. This time out though, they chose to make one that wasn't as heavy handed as the earlier films.

The movie is about Larry Talbot, a rich mans son who returns home to his cold father. Larry meets a girl and takes her to a carnival that has stopped in town. The two go with another girl who proceeds to get attacked by a wolf, which Larry fights off with his walking stick. In the struggle, Larry gets hurt by the wolf. As it turns out, the wolf was a werewolf, and now Larry is one also.

Many people point out that this movie is not a serious as "Frankenstein" or "Dracula". The movie doesn't give off the messages that that either film gave off. This might be true, but this movie is still one hell of a fun romp. With great acting, great camera work and a great score, this movie deserves it's classic status and it deserves this great treatment.

The picture quality in this DVD presentation is beautiful. There are spots in this movie where grain shows up, but nothing that distracts from the viewing. Some scenes, however, are capable of making your jaw drop with the clarity. Almost 3D like.

The sound is also very clear of hiss and pop. Take the time also to actually hear the score. It is a very pleasing score.

As with all of these DVD's, we get another commentary track. This one might just be my favorite one. Our commentator this time is Tom Weaver. To say that this is an entertaining track would be a huge understatement! Mr. Weaver doesn't stop talking through this whole thing. At one point he even apologizes for having to talk about something other than the action on screen because he needs to talk about the makeup. Then he jumps right back into the action. A few of the things that are great about this track is also how Mr. Weaver knows the gossip and the facts about the film and he relates them all. Mr. Weaver also seems to have fun with the movie. He has seen it many times and knows all of the flubs and points them out. So at times the movie feels like you are getting an additional blooper reel.

The documentary on this film is also very entertaining. One gets the impression that since nobody really feels that this is as serious as a movie as "Frankenstein", then this is fair game for jokes. Also we find out inside stories about Mr. Chaney and his arrogance and drinking, this also might lead to reasons to not take this film too seriously. Plus, how the hell did anybody find Chaney and Rains to be related. Maybe Chaney is adopted.

Once again also we have the photo archives. These are also must have segments on these DVD's since the majority of us in this world would love to have all of these posters and stills in our collection, but the price would be just too much. But at least this way we can all stare for hours at these wonderful pictures and not worry about where the money for food will come from.

So at the end of the couple of hours it takes to view all of the stuff included on this DVD (which is actually closer to 3+ hours), is it all worth the price you pay? The answer is a loud, shouting, jumping up and down yes. This is a great disc. Sure, there might be quite a bit of joking about the movie in the supplements, but it is a ribbing full of love. This is the treatment the movie needs, it indeers itself to us that much more by the end of the viewing experience. Thank you again Universal for bringing home our loved ones in great shape.